Picker head



July 18, 1933. E. E. TALIAFERRO PICKER HEAD Filed June 2, 1930 2 Sheets-$heet J-rwenlfoz lillz'alz'aj erra July 18, 1933- E. E. TALIAFERRO PI CKER HEAD Filed June 2, l930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 gwmwto'c EE-fklzbyerra Patented July 18, 1933 PATENT OFFICE,

EDWARD TALIAFERBO, F JACKSON, TENNESSEE PIOKER HEAD Application filed June 2, 1930. Serial No. 458,978.

This invention relates to mechanical cotton pickers and more particularly to a picker head which is to be applied directly to the individual boll and which has any desired connection to a container or storage receptacle, the usual connection to a gasoline engine for supplying power for operating the picker mechanism as well as the air compressor for discharging the cotton from the picker head to the container, being intended.

An object of the present invention is to provide a mechanical cotton picker which will positively remove all of the cotton from the boll. upon the first application of. the

picker head to the boll, thussaving considerable time avoiding the necessity of more than one application as is necessary to remove the cotton from the boll in older forms.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of means for twisting the bell- With relation to the picker head so as automatically to throw all of the locks in line for proper contact with the saws thus removing the cotton from the boll so it can be drawn 2 into the picker head by the aid Ora slight suction.

A further object of this invention is to provide an air suction in the head and means whereby thesuction may be regulated at will to produce only a slight suction or to increas the suctionas desired. i i A still further object of the present invention is the provision of soft flexible rubber fingers of varying widths adapted to be slipped over the metal fingers that twist the boll in order that these fingers can act upon the different sizes of bolls,or if desired, the entire finger portion of the rocker arm may bemade of soft flexible rubber and can be secured to the rocker arm and may be inter changeable to take care of the different sizes of bolls to be picked.

In the mechanical picking of cotton it seems to be accepted that the only successful operation will include a picker head which is to be operated individually. In the plan outlined by me I propose to have a plurality of thesecotton pickerheads all connected to a cottoncontainer orstorage preferablywith a 0 small gasoline driven engine as the motive means, this engine being of sufficient size to provide the necessary suction by a blast of air reversely directed into the picker head and I propose to drive the vehicle at a slow speed, having arranged the various picker heads so that they may set a pace for the operator or operators. in other words the speed of the vehicle, while slow, will be sufficiently great so that the operator will be kept busy gathering the cotton, picking it clean as the vehicle travels along.

While in the previous art a great many devices use, suction to draw the cotton fibers into the head I believe it is new with me to provide a means whereby the suction is created by a blast directed to the discharge side of the doifer drum and in line with the discharge portion of the picker head, the advantage being that the slight or gentle suction desired is obtained at the mouth sutlicient to attract the bolls to the head but not so great as to permit the cotton removing device, which in this case'are saws, either to damage the boll itself or to cut the shale or locks; i

One of the greatest troubles-with mechanical cotton pickers is the inability of such devices to clean the boll appreciably as well as by hand operation. In my opinion quite a bit of the trouble is due to the fact that no proper consideration has been given to. the formation of the cotton boll by nature. The usual cotton boll has four or five locks and its shape is somewhat that of a five-pointed star where five locks occur and very roughly that of a cross where there are four locks. Inasmuch as the locks and the cotton lying in the locks are at varying angles and since it is convenient to have all of the saws or other removing device set on a single axis some of the looks will be at one angle to the saws and others at "a different angle. This difficulty naturally can be met by applying the picker head to the boll four or five times as the case may be but obviously this is a totally unnecessary step and I obtain the same benefits by providing means which revolve to a slight extent the boll as I apply it tothe device. My preferred form of means for twisting or turning the boll consists of a pair ofrocker arms one on each side of the head and oscillating in such fashion that while one arm is turning in one direction the opposite arm is turning in the reverse direction thus revolving the boll back and forth so that each look at some time is at the proper angle to the saws, this resulting in a very clean picking of the boll and a minimizing of the cutting or damaging of the fiber. i

In the drawings: a

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view through my improved picker head.

Figure 2 is a section on line 22 of Figure 3.

Figure 3 is a top plan view.

Figure 4 is a side elevation of one form of rocker arm and fingers.

Figure 5 is a side elevation of the flexible sleeve.

Figure 6 is a section on line 66 of Figure 5. o

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 10 indicates the picker head having a 7 suitable hose connection 11 to a cotton container, which for the present purpose need not be shown. A shaft 12 is connected to any suitable source of power and carries a pinion 13 adapted to mesh with the combined spur and bevel gear 14 supported on the transverse stud shaft 15 extending from the head 10 and transmits movement to the operating mechanism for scribed.

A shaft 16 extends through the head and has bearings therein while keyed to this shaft on the outside of the head is a spur gear 17 adapted to mesh with the spur teeth of gear 14 for rotating the, plurality of dofl'ers 19 mounted on shaft 16 within the picker head. While these dofi'ers may be brushes as is usual, I prefer to use star Wheels as shown because of their greater life. Gears 17 and 20 are both keyed to shaft 16 and transmit motion to gears 21 and 23 on stud 22 and this in turndrives gear 28 keyed to the saw shaft 29, through idle gear 27 on stud 26. Saw shaft 29 carrying a plurality of saws 30 extends entirely through the picker head and on the far side has keyed to it gear 28 which drives gear 21 through idle gear 27 as on the near side gears 21 and 23 are both movable together on shaft 22 and the smaller gear, that is, 23 drives 2 1 which is loose on stud 25 and drives the far rocker 25 It will be noted that the gearing which drives the rockers is exactly the same on the two sides except that in one case the power is from the gear 20 whereas on the far side the power is from the gear 28. I thus secure a rapid rotation for the brushes or dofiers on shaft 16, a

much slower rotation of the saw shaft 29 and a much slower rotation of the rockers.

.Eccentrically mounted on the gear members 24 are studs 31 adapted to slide freely in a slot 32 in the rocker arms 25, which picking the cotton as later de oscillate on extending ends of shaft 29, while on the rocker arms there are a plurality of angularly disposed fingers 34 extending below the head for engaging the cotton boll. The rocker arms 25 are oppositely disposed and are given rocking movements in opposite directions whereby an initial twist is given to the boll prior to the cotton being engaged by the saws.

It is desirable to provide a slight suction at the opening of the picker head so that the air caused by the saws and the brush wheels will not have a tendency to blow the cotton bolls away from the head and this suction may be produced by a suitable compressor, not shown, from which extends an air duct or channel 35 which passes through an opening 36 in the head 10 so as to project a blast of air below the saws and doifers and into the hose 11 to create a partial suction at the mouth for clearing the head and discharging the cotton through the hose 11 to the container. It is desirable to regulate the amount of suction in the head 10 due to the varying cotton conditions and this may be accomplished by a double valve arrangement at the compressor intake (not shown).

It is highly desirable that the fingers 34- on the rocker arms 25 be properly spaced so as to impart an initial twist to the cotton boll as the head is advanced to the same and while the size of the bolls vary, I have provided means to take care of these varying sizes of cotton bolls. I provide the rocker arms with interchangeable flexible members 37 which may bereadily attached thereto for taking care of certain sizes of cotton bolls. These flexible members are secured to the arms by screws 38 and include a plurality of flexible fingers 37 having thin ribs 4E0 extending inwardly from the outer face of the fingers and forming a substantially T-shaped construction in cross section as clearly shown in Figure 6. It is also desirable to provide the fingers 34 with flexible rubber sleeves capable of being slipped over the fingers and including an integral rib 41 extending inwardly to varying widths whereby varying changes. of the sizes of the-bolls may be taken care of.

While the construction so far outlined is satisfactory I have noted that there is a tendency for the cotton lint to work its way between adjacent saw blades and at the outside of the end saws, this'lint packing in these spaces and winding about the saw arbor continuing to such an extent as finally to cover the saw teeth thus necessitating an occasional manual cleaning of this arbor, just as in the case ofa lawn mower running in tall fine grass.

I may prevent this winding of the lint between the saws and prefer to do so, a simple method being that illustrated, consisting of a plurality of rings each of which is 'concave exteriorly. One of these loose rings 42 is positioned between each saw and in contact therewith while two additional rings 43 somewhat smaller in axial length are positioned between each outside saw and the proximate wall of the picker head. The rings are h'eld in doifing relation by means of springs 44 anchoredas at 45'to the wall of the picker head and so disposed as to project thering 42 so that its axis of rotation'is constantly in the same plane as the axes of the saw arbor and the doifing brushes or wheels, this relationship leaving the periphery of the saws entirely clear at the top so that the teeth may readily engage the cotton while the rings gradually lift the cotton lint from the teeth and dispose it in the path of the dofier. The concave outer surface of the rings aidquite materiallyin preventing any lint from passing toward the axis of the saw shaft or arbor, a further and important ele-.

ment of the combination being the dome shape spring 46 which holds the saws and rings in rather snug engagement with each other and with the far wall of the dofler head. As will be noted these dome shaped springs are quite flat throughout the greater part of their extent so as to prevent any lint from entering between this spring and the adjacent ring 43." I find it also quite preferable to add a similar light spring metal dome 47 on the dofier shaft thus obtaining a more accurate positioning of the star wheels which I prefer to use instead of the ordinary brushes. I

The picking operation is accomplished in the following manner: The engine having been started, the compressor is operated to supply air through the tube 35 to the head 10 and the shaft 12 transmits a rotary motion to the doflers 19 andimparts a rocking motion in opposite directions to the rocker arms 25, while rotating the saws 30. As the picker head 10 is advanced toward an individual boll, the boll first comes into contact with the fingers 34 of oppositely moving rocker arms and is given a twist to insure throwing all of the locks in line for proper contact with the saws 30 and due to the slight suction created at the mouth of thehead, the draw of the fiber is sufiicient to remove the entire cotton from all of the locks in the boll at one application of the head and without possible damage to the boll or without the possibility of allowing the saws to cut the shale or locks. Altho the cotton as taken from the bolls is quite bulky and contains many seeds the loose spring rings are highly yielding so as to pass the bulky cotton readily while returning very quickly to the position illustrated and because of the direction in which they are held by the springs 44 they pass the cotton directly to the doiiers which discharge this cotton into the path of blast of air'which enters the head at 36, the cotton passing through the tube 11 by reason of the constant air pressure which, as previously stated, acts as a suction at the end 01"? the picker head since the direction of the blast of air is directly toward the tube 11.

What I claim is: i I

1. In a cotton picker, a head, mechanical means for drawing the cotton into said head, and mechanical means for rotating the cotton boll.

2. In" a. cotton picker, a head, means for drawing the cotton into said head, and means for rotating the cotton boll which includes a plurality of fingers oscillating in opposite directions.

3. In a cotton picker, a head, means for drawing the cotton into said head, and means for rotating the cotton boll which includes a plurality of oscillating flexible fingers.

4. In a cotton picker, a head, means for drawing the cotton intosaid head, and means for rotating the cotton boll which includes oppositely disposed rocker arms movable in opposite directions, each having a plurality of detachable fingers extending in fan shape from the arm.

5. In a cotton picker head, cotton removing means, and means for twisting the boll, conisting of spaced rocker arms, and means for rocking said arms. 7

6. The device of claim 5 in which the arms 10; In a cotton picker head, spacedrocker arms, fingers secured to said arms adapted to project beyond the mouth of said picker head, andmeans adapted to move said rocker arms in opposite directions whereby the fingers will contact with a cotton boll to impart twist thereto. 11. In a cotton picker, a hollow head havlnga mouth and a discharge portion, a gang of rotary devices carried by the head for engaging the cotton fiber, dofiing means within the head for removing cotton from the gang, and means located at each side of the gang for engaging a boll to twist or turn the boll as its cotton is being removed by said gang, whereby to present consecutively to the gang the several locks each in line with the rotary devices, so that the boll may be cleaned at a single application of-the head,

12. The device of claim 11 in which an air blast discharges thru the head toward its discharge portion, thus creating at the mouth a suction to aid in drawing the cotton into the, head.

13. The device'of claim 11 in which the gang of rotary devices is a drum carrying a plurality of circular saws. V

14. In a cotton picker, a hollow head having a mouth and a discharge portion, a toothed drum mounted in the head so that the teeth project abovethe margin of the mouth, a dofling drum within the head to remove cotton fiber from the teeth, a rocking member at each side of the toothed drum adapted to engage a boll, and means for driving said drums and saidmembers whereby the boll is turned or twisted as the cotton is being removed by the teeth, whereby the boll is presented to the toothed drum at a constantly changing angle so that the boll is cleaned of its cotton at a single application of the picker.

15. In a cotton picker, a plurality of rotary devices for removing cotton from a boll, a doiier, and revolvingmeans between the rotary devices for directing the picked cotton from the axis of the rotary devices and toward and in the path of said 'doffer.

16. The device of claim 15 in which the means is a plurality of loosely mounted rings resiliently held away from the axis of the rotary devices in the direction of the dofler.

17. In a cotton picker, a plurality of saws rotatable about a single axis, a ring between adjacent saws, and means for resiliently holding each ring so that only one point of its periphery, is tangent .to and is alined with alined portions of the peripheries of the saws along one line only, whereby the ring leaves the saws free to engage the cotton along a line about from said first mentioned line and gradually lifts the cotton from between the saws toward said first mentioned line.

18. The device of claim 17 including a cotton picker head in which is mounted a shaft on which the saws are mounted and the ring is supported, and resilient means are provided for holding the saws and the ring in yielding contact together.

19. The device'of claim 17 in which the ring has a concave peripheral surface in order to prevent the cotton from winding about the axis of the saws. 20. Thecombination with an arbor and aplurality of spaced saws thereon, of a plurality of rings loose on the arbor between adjacent saws, and means for holding the rings in contact with the arbor, the rings having an outside diameter of such size that when points on the inner surfaces of the rings are held against the arbor, the diametrically opposite outside portionsof the rings are substanti ally tangent to the saw peripheries, the inside diameter of the rings being greater than the diameter of the arbor plus the depth of the saw teeth.

21. A toothed roller comprised of a plurality of axially spaced wheels and a tooth cleaning ring fitting loosely in each space.

22. In a fiber handling machine, a roller having external peripheral teeth, and a tooth cleaning ring surrounding said rolleradjacent and radially movable with respect to said teeth. I

23. In a fiber transferring device, a roller havinga plurality of axially spaced series of peripheral teeth, a tooth cleaning ring fitting loosely in the space between two of said series.

.24. A fiber transferring roller comprising a series of peripheral teeth, said series being spaced to form grooves therebetween, a tooth cleaning ring fitting loosely in each groove and means for holding the rings substantially tangent to the surface of the roller defined by the teeth. I

EDWARD E. TALIAFERRO. 

